A Portrait of Words
by Magick
Summary: The relationship of Calypso/Tia Dalma and Davy Jones, through its ups and downs. Spoilers if you haven't seen AWE.


_**Beginning**_

Glancing over the side of the ship, Davy Jones could almost swear he saw the face of a woman looking back at him. So, he nearly fell overboard when the face winked at him.

_**Hours**_

Hours crawl by like days, as she waits for him to return. Even when she knows he never will.

_**Red**_

The flowers were a little wilted by the time he gave them to her- lilies with long petals, brilliant red. Like flames or sun against her dark skin.

_**Purple**_

Twilight turns the vast sky purple, as stars begin to dot the horizon. Two lovers lay on the sand, dreaming of a million tomorrows.

_**Friends**_

They fight like the best of friends. Brief and intense, and forgotten a few moments later. Neither one can bear to see the other hurt.

_**Teammates**_

Davy feels the ivory keys under his fingers, futilely trying to drown out his own pain. His crew never asks him why- but leave him to fight his own demons. They have enough of their own.

_**Sunrise**_

Exhausted the sleep, and sunrise passes by overhead; neither one wakes, nor will they care.

_**Smell**_

Sweat, earth, leather, and something underneath that is unique to him. Calypso curls closed to her beloved, memorizing this as the scent (to her, at least) of perfect completion.

_**Shapes**_

"Give tha' back!" Davy admonished, reaching for his purloined hat. She turns it over in her hands, grinning. "Of all 'de shapes in 'de world- why would ye wan'a hat shaped like a triangle?"

_**Star**_

He always makes a wish on the first star at night. She doesn't understand it and worse yet, he won't tell her what he wishes for.

_**Water**_

From water she came, now it's the very element that separates them. She is beginning to understand bitter irony.

_**Breakfast**_

He never eats breakfast when they are together. Primarily because she never lets him get out of bed until nearly noon. He can't bring himself to miss it.

_**Winter**_

She hates the cold. And every winter reminds her that no blanket will ever be so warm as his embrace.

_**Rain**_

Sometimes he stares out at the rain, and remembers how she would pull him out to dance around in it. The droplets feel different on his cursed, rubbery skin.

_**Broken**_

They both have realized that their betrayals of each other were the first cracks. They broke their own happiness with careless actions and silence...

_**Choices**_

Tia Dalma stands on the shore, looking out at the vastness of the ocean. Her heard bleeds every time she chooses to say. Hates her own cowardice.

_**Birthday**_

He can't remember how long it has been since he celebrated a birthday. He feels less then human, and there is something inhuman about not knowing how long you have been alive. He supposes he could find out, but he never does.

_**Middles**_

The middle of their story is marked by heartache. Neither one can bear to read passed that chapter.

_**Days**_

Days pass by in the blink of an eye. Davy knows that any place with her, is his Eden.

_**Orange**_

The orange stains his fingers, smelling sweetly acidic. He hands her half the sections; it is these simple moments that he stores away for his long nights alone.

_**Brown**_

Women from his native Scotland are pale, he notes, marveling at the creamy caramel colored skin of the woman sleeping beside him.

_**Enemies**_

Waves crash in an all-consuming tide. The newly reborn sea Goddess wonders how you kill your enemy, and save the man you love- when they are one and the same.

_**Parents**_

Davy never told her of his hopeless dream. Of a normal life, with his beloved for a wife. He wonders what sort of mother she would be, in their beautiful life together. Hopeless, yet held close to his heart.

_**Sunset**_

She swears to wait; to be standing here at sunset, ten years hence. They fear the separation, neither knowing it is the last time they will ever be together like this.

_**Sound**_

"What is your favorite sound?" he asks her. She smiles, resting her ear against his warm chest, "De sound of your heart."

_**Triangle**_

Calypso rests the cards together, stacks of triangles to create a house. Davy warns that she must be gentle, the balance is a fragile thing, or else it will all fall down.

_**Heart**_

The crew of the Flying Dutchman stare at their captain's locked door. They low moaning had stopped, and the silence after it was proving worse. When at last the door opened, Davy Jones was the color of sea foam or chalk- clutching in both hands a chest that beat a disturbingly familiar rhythm.

_**Five**_

Five years had passed. The wait is an agony, and every night she watches the sunset and reminds herself, "Soon. Only five years more."

_**Lunch**_

"Davy, sit you down 'an eat," she calls over to him. He may be content to lie in bed passed lunch, but today she has too much energy to be still. He throws a pillow at her, by way of a 'No'.

_**Spring**_

He complains that having flowers in his hair is undignified. But his Calypso loves the spring, and his protests are half hearted at best. Even when he sees the little pink roses.

_**Snow**_

One of the perks of being loved by a Goddess; you can have snow for Christmas, even in the middle of the Caribbean.

_**Fixed**_

As Davy falls from his own ship, to be consumed by the monstrous whirlpool below, Calypso realizes what she should have known all along. That it will take them both to fix the hurt between them. She prays he will be willing to try.

_**If.**_

What if? If only…? They could write books on the Ifs that lie between them. But Ifs are not strong enough to build a bridge out of.

_**Life**_

The feel of her in his arms, and the sound of her musical laugh- all that she is, to him, perfection. For the first time on land, Davy Jones knows what it is to feel truly alive.

_**Christmas**_

No matter how he explains it, she just doesn't understand Christmas. Mistletoe, on the other hand, she is becoming quite fond of.

_**Ends**_

They both know this must end, and the score between them settled. They realize that it won't be pleasant- and so they delay. While the other lives, they have a reason to keep waking up in the morning.

_**Weeks**_

Years go by like weeks to him. The passage of time is a meaningless mortal device he no longer has use of.

_**Yellow**_

Calypso loves the way the sun shine of the buttons of his coat. Bright and glittering yellow, undoing them is like searching through treasure. She can understand pirate's love of gold better these days.

_**Black**_

Davy's eyes snapped open, the scent of bitter smoke pulling him roughly from his dreams. Whatever had been in the frying pan was now a charred and blackened mess. She really didn't have the patience to be a chef.

_**Lovers**_

She had never taken a lover before him, and no man after could ever touch her the way he did. 'Lovers' was a pale word for what they were.

_**Children**_

He cannot bring himself to hurt her, reputation be damned. The little girl with the dark eyes that remind him so much of her. And so he returns her to land; she never knows why he spared her.

_**Too Much**_

"I love ye so much it hurts." He says with a smile that is not quite a smile. She nods in agreement, but can't form the words around the tears she tries to hide. 10 years seems like far too much time.

_**Touch**_

Davy can't help but lean over the edge, stretching out his hand to touch the elusive face in the water. He can only blame himself when he topples over the edge.

_**Square**_

With a bit of burned twig, he draws a square in the sand. Filling his little outline with rooms and doors, he laughs at her confused expression. Topping it with a rough triangle he says, "If I could, I would build ye a palace. But since that is a bit beyond my means- how about a house?"

_**Diamond**_

Elizabeth told her that diamonds are the thing to give, meaning marriage and love. Tia Dalma touches the silver locket and says that love is different for everyone.

_**Earth**_

The jar of earth is heavy as she pulls it from the corner it had been resting in. She hopes that Jack will have better luck; able to find the heart that should always have been hers. Tries to convince herself that Jack won't let any harm come to it.

_**Dinner**_

At dinnertime he tries to teach her to cook, even though he is only average at best. There is just something about her looking cross-eyed at the smudge of flour on her nose, that he find endearing.

_**Summer**_

He is always busy in the summer, giving into the wanderlust that pulls him back to the open ocean. She worries more then, and people comment on the unusually calm seas.

_**Lightening**_

Lightening streaks across the sky, striking dangerously low. Rain pours down, threatening flood. But as the last piece of either is thrown into the dish, it stops. All is calm.

_**Light**_

His hair is almost copper in the firelight. She lays awake often, as the flames die down, just to watch him.

_**And**_

There is always one more thing to say before he has to go. "And, and, and," and, "I love you," at least once more.

_**School**_

School taught him to read and write, to do sums and geography. But as he watches her grow small in the distance, Davy Jones realizes that it never taught him how to say goodbye.

_**Insides**_

Inside this mortal form is bone and blood. A prison never meant for her. A real broken heart, within this breast.

_**Months**_

He waits for the pain to kill him. But after a few months, he begins to fear that it won't.

_**Green**_

The first time she gives him a gift of flowers and greens, he has to remind himself that she truly didn't know those leaves were poison ivy.

_**White**_

A man clung to his pale, drowned bride; her white wedding gown dripping on the wooden planks of the deck. Davy looked down at him, "Which do you fear more? Death, or a life without her?"

_**Family**_

He tells her about his family sometimes. He says it hurts to remember them, even the happy moments. Years later, she understands too well what he meant.

_**Birth**_

Tia Dalma has been midwife to more then one baby. She wonders how her life would have been different if she had a child of her own. He would have been a wonderful father then, that much she is sure of.

_**Not Enough**_

He crushes her to his chest, willing himself to be strong. There are not enough words in the world to express how he loves her; and so they remain silent.

_**Taste**_

Nothing has ever tasted so good as it did with him. But now he is gone, and it is like comparing ambrosia to the ashes she tastes now.

_**Circle**_

He knows the circle of life, the phases between birth and death. As he accepts the trade for immortality, Davy morbidly wonders for a moment, what the punishment is for breaking that circle.

_**Club**_

Since before man wielded crude clubs, she has watched. He is the only one she ever loved.

_**Air**_

Air burns her lungs as the newly human Calypso crawls to shore. In this heavy form, she cannot rejoin the waves, cannot even swim.

_**Food**_

Davy Jones does not need human food. At times it seems his enduring grief is sustaining- feeding on itself.

_**Fall**_

Water rushes passed, as Davy plummets towards the center of the maelstrom. Falling for her all over again.

_**Thunder**_

Crashes of deafening thunder seem to rattle the very Earth. He looks from the window to the innocent expression on her face. "Guess you can't leave today after all," she says with a smile.

_**Dark **_

Blood looks dark in the moonlight, almost black as it drips down his chest. Cutting out his own heart in a desperate attempt to kill the pain. Not knowing how much the agony has been etched into his very soul.

_**He**_

He is the betrayer. He is the one that left her to the mercy of the Brethren Court. For that, he deserves the most painful death she can devise.

He is the only one she has ever loved. He is her reason for going on. And in the end, she knows she will not be able to hurt him.

_**Work**_

Calloused and roughened by work- she loves the feel on his hands on her skin.

_**Independence**_

She answers to no man. Independent, she needs no one to care for her. Following no master save that of her own memories. Independently building her own prison.

_**Outsides**_

On the outside they are whole. Arms, legs, eyes, hands. But they know what a hollow shell it is.

_**Years**_

Years are what they have instead of days. Going on until forever, or until the weight of Time is too much to bear.

_**Blue**_

The sky is always a beautiful blue when they are together. It takes him a while to put two and two together- she just smiles when he finally asks.

_**Colorless**_

Calypso's rage is a colorless thing, impossible to contain or define. As Tia Dalma, she feels like a tempest in a teacup.

_**Strangers**_

When they first met, Davy's logical mind believed they were strangers. His soul knew that he had loved her all his life.

_**Death**_

He once told her that he believed Death to be a skeletal figure in black robes. Years later, Death was the inhuman face staring back at him out of the mirror.

_**6**__**th**__** Sense**_

She always knew when he was near. Her heart would beat a little faster, the world more brightly colored. Something in his aura called out to her.

_**Sight**_

Tattered clothing, hundred year dreadlocks, eyes smudged by dark circles- and as Davy entered the brig, he realized that he had never seen a more beautiful sight.

_**Moon**_

The pull of the moon affects the tides. Watching the sky helps him understand her better- his very own force of nature.

_**Spade**_

She stacks the 4 of spades carefully on top of the tower of cards. Even so, it falls to pieces. Sometimes keeping her hands busy is not enough to help her forget.

_**Drink**_

He wishes her was the sort of man to be able to lose himself in drink. But even as damned as he is, he cannot let himself lose that much control.

_**Passing**_

They are like ships, passing each other on a dark night. Forever hearing rumors and tales- too blinded by fear to seek the truth.

_**Storm**_

Tia Dalma is but a storm in a glass, her heart forever crashing against the sides of this delicate form of flesh. No safe harbor in sight.

_**Shade**_

In the afternoons they talk- sitting in the shade out of the worst of the heat. He cannot fathom eternity, and she cannot understand growing up- but they are learning.

_**She**_

She had promised to be there. Swore that she would meet him. But as Davy Jones stands on the empty beach, he knows he will not keep his vow- while she has forsaken hers.

_**Home**_

"Home is where your hearts is," he mumbles, throwing the last pile of dirt onto the chest. He finds it bitterly ironic, leaving his heart here twice.

_**New Year**_

She watches the village people dance around a bonfire, celebrating another New Year. She has long since given up counting, but it seemed to come faster this year.

_**Hysterics **_

He claws at the shifting sand, his breath choking and rasping in his throat. Tears fall dark on the ground as he screams out the agony of a broken heart. The world was but a void with her imprisoned, what had he done?

_**Invisible**_

The bond that connects them is invisible. Intangible, yet threading it's way through the end of their tale. It cannot be broken, no matter how they have tried. They cannot see it, but they can feel it.

_**Pair**_

"A matched pair," he says, clasping the silver locket around her neck. She opens it, listening to the sweet melody and smiles, "Just like us."

_**Cramped**_

Heart, liver, lungs- all cramped and layered into this single form. Economy of space she would never truly learn to appreciate.

_**Delay**_

One more kiss, one more touch, one more word. But for all her power, she cannot delay the inevitable. Time itself is stronger.

_**Drink**_

Even though his heart is no longer connected to his body, he still feels the broken blade's sharp edges. The blessed relief, knowing it is finally over.

_**Single**_

"A double heart for his single one," Davy quotes Shakespeare as he sets down the play. If only life and love were truly so simple.

_**Bubble**_

Bubbles rise up in front of her eyes, slower and slower as her lungs begin to burn. She struggles for the surface- of all the places in the world, the Locker is the one place she refuses to drown.

_**Room**_

There are only two men in the room, guns aimed surely at his beating heart. He refuses to look inside the open door.

_**Remain**_

As he falls, Calypso knows she will remain on this Earth, long after he is dust. Eternity without him had never been part of her brilliant plan.

_**Hurry**_

Davy runs across the beach, his hurried steps kicking up sand behind him. Only three days apart, but it seems like months.

_**Moan**_

She takes pride in every moan and gasp she pulls from his lips. Apparently experience doesn't count for everything- but she isn't opposed to practice.

100._** Starving**_

Starvation, two souls screaming for their missing other half. Dying in the barren abyss they have created between them.

- ---

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and I am not doing this for personal gain or profit. It all belongs with Disney, and all the wonderful people who have brought it to us.

Hey all, hope you enjoyed this! A special credit goes out to the LJ community Fanfic100, from which I stole the majority of my buzzwords. I encourage anyone who has some time to try this style, it's a lot harder then it looks! Read and review, I'd love to know what you all think. And sorry the disclaimer is at the bottom- my formatting really hated me!

Dedicated to my sister Glimia, who puts up with my rambling, and my general insanity.


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